Before this course, I had never even heard of the term 'digital humanities.' However, I am very grateful to have been exposed to these media types and the way the can creatively and interactively present information. I think in today's age with platforms like social media, there is so much competing for our attention that material has to be extremely engaging for people to actually learn from it. These digital humanities tools can drastically increase the engagingness of a project.
Part of the reason why I decided to attend school in Silicon Valley was the region's emphasis and celebration of technology. Seeing technology implemented into unexpected contexts such as digital humanities has been very cool. I much prefer creative, visual projects to writing essays, and the digital humanities projects helped me strengthen those skills.
Besides being more fun for me to develop and present, the digital humanities tools also reinforced my learning in a deeper way. For instance, actually mapping locations on geographic-based platforms like Neatline helped me better grasp how far/close locations were to each other. Also, attaching images to platforms made it easier to understand what characters in the texts were seeing, feeling, and experiencing.
Finally, the digital humanities tools impacted my learning by teaching me what is possible for future presentations. I know that if I am in another course tasked with a large project, I can rely on my new skills to create a presentation that is likely to be unique from the kind my peers create, and therefore will hopefully stand out more and be more effective.
Hi Heather! I totally agree! I had no idea what they were either, but also really enjoy more creative projects. I think I will definitely use these tools down the road and will make my future projects much more interesting. I thought Neatline put a lot of our books into perspective when I got to see how close or far certain locations were in the story. I can't wait to see your future projects!
ReplyDeleteHi Heather! I was in the same position as you at the beginning of the course. I had never heard of these tools before. I agree that I prefer creating my projects through these types of media rather than basic essays. Not only does it add an extra dimension of learning, but it is a fun way to flex my creative and digital skills. I'm glad you got a lot out of using these resources.
ReplyDeleteHey Heather, I like how you connected social media to these new digital humanities tools that we have been exposed to. Not only now are we able to present material in new ways, but we are also able to create more engaging presentations on platforms that have far more to offer. To your point on how mapping made you fully digest how close or far certain places are from one another, the timeline feature did the same for me. Especially when I was comparing Antigone with more modern texts.
ReplyDeleteHi Heather! I was just like you—I had never heard of digital humanities tools before. It was really interesting learning about all the different digital humanities tools, especially how to use them. With all the different ways to present information, we can choose the best way to create engaging presentations.
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